Monday, July 29, 2013

I missed it a few weeks ago when I was harvesting garlic scapes for cooking. Do you cook with garlic scapes? I chop them fine and mix them in with stir-fry veggies, which I often eat in the morning with two poached eggs. Yummy!

I also make garlic scape pesto. I just used up my last garlic scapes to make one final batch. I measure the pesto out into ice cube trays and then freeze them, and put the cubes in a plastic bag in the freezer. And then I throw one into the frying pan with the morning veggies.

When I saw the scape starting to open, I realized it was probably time to harvest the actual bulbs of garlic, at least those two rows on the left. The leaves were starting to turn brown and a bit crispy.

I love fresh garlic from the garden. I didn't know garlic could be juicy, till I grew my own.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

I have three kinds of perennial monkey flower growing in my garden here in western Washington -- Mimulus cardinalis, Mimulus lewisii x cardinalis and Mimulus aurantiacus 'Apricot.' I started the Mimulus cardinalis from seed my very first winter in this house, using winter sowing methods, and planted it out in the spring. That spring I also sent in my very first order to Annie's Annuals, and part of that order was a single pot each of M. lewisii and M. aurantiacus.

Mimulus cardinalis

M. cardinalis, also called scarlet monkey flower, likes moist soil, so that first year I planted it near the front of one of my borders in the back garden, knowing it would get overspray in that spot from the lawn sprinklers. It stayed in that spot until this past late winter/early spring, when I started a complete overhaul of that bed. It had always been just a little too tall for that front spot, so I moved it into the center of the bed. It doesn't get overspray any more from the lawn sprinklers, which we now use a lot less often than we did when the lawn was new and had just been seeded. Those four tiny little cups of seedy hope have now turned into quite a nice swath of plants, which the hummingbirds just love.

My one little pot of M. lewisii x cardinalis from Annie's has also turned into a swath of plants. I planted it near the M. cardinalis that first year, because it also likes moisture, and again, moved it into the center of the bed when I overhauled it. When I moved it, I divided it, spreading it into a wider space. The hummers love it as well. It's a naturally occurring hybrid of M. lewisii and M. cardinalis.

My solitary pot of M. aurantiacus from Annie's has turned into a good-size shrubby deciduous clump, but isn't really divide-able. Unlike its monkey relatives, it doesn't prefer moisture, so because it had peach-colored flowers, I planted it with others that I thought would make a good match -- Carex testacea, a peach-colored Primula (which doesn't actually bloom at the same time), Pennisetum 'Karley Rose' which right now has pretty much overwhelmed it completely by draping its puffy seedheads all over it), and some Euphorbias with chartreuse bracts, red stems and purple foliage. It starts flowering earlier in the spring than the other two monkey flowers. I've never seen the hummers feeding from it. I usually cut it back to the ground, but I think this coming winter I might leave it and see if its top growth survives. Its common name is Sticky Monkey Flower, because of the clinging nature of its leaves.

I'm a couple of days late with this post, but hopefully Gail of clay and limestone will forgive me. I've been doing lots of little chores out in the garden, pausing every so often to document them with the camera, and then trying to gather my thoughts together to do several different posts. Too much going on at once!

Check out Wildflower Wednesday on clay and limestone, and be sure to visit all the other bloggers who are posting about wildflowers. Wildflower Wednesday is on the fourth Wednesday of every month and its purpose is to celebrate wildflowers all over the world.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Ever since the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in February, I've been gathering ideas for ways to display terra cotta pots out in the gravel garden.

Remember this display on the Skyway at the show?

And these from the Fling?

I also recently saw these chimney liners in artist Sondra Shira's garden on an NPA tour.

For a couple of weeks now I've been trying to recreate something along those same lines, using thrift store purchases and succulent plants in my gravel garden.

Here's my attempt.

The pots and most of the plants are new this year. The columns are terra cotta wine coolers, bought for a couple of bucks each at my local thrift store. I originally bought the dark blue plates under the pots at the thrift store with the intention of breaking them and making some kind of mosaic on the columns with the bits, but I have no confidence in my ability to create a mosaic, so I decided to use them as drip catchers instead (although those plants seldom get watered).

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Is a hardy Geranium known as Geranium phaeum 'Samobor,' 'Mourning Widow' or just dusky cranesbill. Hardy Geraniums are pretty common, so what do I love about this one?

I love the dark, almost black splotch on the leaves.

The leaves are quite large and really make a visual impact.

I like it so much I have it planted repeatedly throughout my garden.

It plays well with others.

Here it is with Alchemilla mollis and Persicaria 'Painter's Palette (and a rogue daylily photo-bombing the picture).

With Heuchera 'Tiramisu' and 'Snow Angel.'

In fact, I like it so much with those two companions, I have repeated that combo in other spots in my garden.

The foliage looks good with this plain green Sanguisorba too.

With that dark splotch, it would also make a good companion for black mondo grass and any of the dark-leaved bugbanes, such as 'Brunette' or 'Hillside Black Beauty.'

It has lovely, unusual, reflexed flowers, smaller than a hardy Geranium like Rozanne, but dark purple, to match the leaf splotch. The smallish flowers rise on stalks above the foliage. Granted, you have to look closely to appreciate them, but I like that. And it will rebloom if you remember to cut it back soon enough in the season.

It reseeds modestly, at least in my garden.

Two babies, rescued and potted up.

Here's a third, which has popped up the middle of a patch of Sedum 'Cape Blanco.'

Occasionally the seedlings, like this one, have only a touch of the dark splotch.

And a plus here in the moist PNW is that slugs don't seem to bother it.

Geranium phaeum 'Samobor' was found in 1990 by Elizabeth Strangman of Washfield Nursery in Kent, England growing as a natural variant in the woods near Samobor, Croatia. It was introduced to North American gardeners by Heronswood.

I'm linking this to danger garden's current "My Favorite Plant in the Garden" meme, which you can read here. Her fave plant this week is a cool sea holly called Eryngium maritimum, one I've never heard of, check it out!

About Me

My husband and I moved here to Washington state in the Fall of 2008, after more than 25 years living in the same house in Massachusetts. We lived in a rental house here for about a year, and have now bought a house, in August, 2009.
I want my blog to chronicle the process of turning our new yard into the garden of my dreams. One reason I was interested in moving to Washington was for the great gardening. A dream come true!